Th'n Bolak
Early History In the earliest days of man’s migration west, he found the realm to be rich in minerals of all types. He also found that there were dragons. The men were wary at first, but necessity forced them to settle the inhospitable mountains. The iron they cut from the mines they sunk more than made up for those they lost to the loathsome beasts. It was during the second generation that the men of Th’n Bolak were brought into conflict with the Orcs of the Burning Stone. The Orcs were ruthless and despicable neighbors, spiriting off with wives and children, slaying any men they found. The Burning Stone Orcs prayed to a One Eyed God of Destruction. The men of the mountains were on the verge of fleeing the rich mines of the realm when they met the men of stone, giant-kin Goliaths were the Orcs’ tribal enemies, and were known as the Tribe of the Weeping Stone. In those first tentative years, man was a creature caught between the bitter cold of the high western mountains, and the Dominion of the Dragon Kings. Unwilling to merge with the foul creatures as so many of their kin had done in disgusting orgiastic ritual, the men had fled to the Iron rich mountains. By the third generation the men of Th’n Bolak had reached an agreement with the Goliaths and had even begun trade, their raids and skirmishes with the tribe of the Burning Stone erupted into the War of the Stones. The war lasted an entire generation and decimated the few humans that had escaped west. Rather than ending with treaty or surrender, the war disappeared due to lack of soldiers to fight it. Orc, Goliath, and Man were depopulated to such an extent that the war died like so many of the soldiers it had taken. The fourth generation of men in Th’n Bolak settled along the Menace River (named for the Dragon that claimed it) The small village was known as Evermelt, for the hotsprings that kept the town warm and cleansed the spirits of the elders. Having established a permanent and successful village, they caught the attention of those secluded within the mountain itself. The Dwarven Clan of Uruthack were tentative to contact the new come men. The dwarves watched and three generations passed before the population of man had recovered from the horror of the War of the Stones. As soon as the men of the mountain were capable of waging war again, Clan Uruth made contact with them, and soon the two were trading partners. This enraged the Orc Chieftan, Gurtgar and tensions rose in the region. It was amidst this tension that Sho’Athar was discovered. The elf folk of the forest were elusive and their fey minds were alien to man, who found the elves terrifying and beautiful. Enchanted by the forest walkers, man grasped out too quickly sending envoys and adventurers alike to find the fey, thinking them like other folk. When these parties never returned it was understood that the fey were man’s enemy. This is when man decided to write all that they could about these fey creatures of the Forrest along their Western shore. Thus began the writing of the great Tome of Sho’Athar. In the eighth generation man and dwarf united to raid Sho’Athar and teach the fragile creatures a lesson in warfare. The first raids were slaughtered to a man. Soon though the sheer numbers of man and their greed as well as their indomitable adaptability let survivors trickle back to report the location of the elven nobility, Eladrin. Wishing to end the conflict quickly, the Dwarves and Men struck out for the Feywild to capture or kill the fey Summer King. The fey met the army in the field and such a terrible battle which itself lasted 3 months, became known as the Battle of Menace, blood ran the waters of the river red all the way to the sea. It is said that this battle was the exact moment when the God Bane took interest in the region. Together with Erathis, the two deities sought to spread their influence and prove the naïve Melora a fool. Thus began the War of the Long Summer. This war lasted until the Tenth Generation and threatened to end all three species. Seeing its opportunity the Tribe of the Burning Stone struck such a terrible blow upon the day of blood, having dealt with the fey Winter Queen, too long in exile, the Winter Massacre brought elf, dwarf, and man to their knees, literally swearing fealty to an Orcish King. King of the Burning Stone reigned in Th’n Bolak for ten Generations. After a score of Generations man stumbled across the regions dragons. By accident during an exploration of the great Gold Mountain, mankind woke the dragon. Once roused dragons do not go quietly back to their slumber. Soon dragons were able to slay the King of the Burning Stone, scatter his Orcish nation, and plunder the great treasures of Uruthrack. Once again Th’n Bolak was decimated of mortal kin. Ten generations after the Dragons slew the King of the Burning Stone, man had returned to the throne in the East. This power drove the other races into the corners of the realm. It was about this time that the King of Blades begun his rise. And as the first stones of the Unfinished Castle were laid down, the men of Th’n Bolak were finally ready to begin their conquest of the West. However, before they could their hubris was struck down by the Great Plague. Recent History Three years after the the Great Plague and the defeat of Fachaun by the felling of the great tree Benthanesal, the sparse and tiny population of Th’n Bolak has constructed their calendar in relation to the Great Plague. Divided into six parts known as Sextans; Plague, Felling, Siege, Famine, Stryfe, and Grief. The Winter has persisted for three years, and life in the mountainous region is miserable. Immediately after the felling of the Great Benthanesal our heroes quickly returned to the Temple of the Dog to find their family only slowly recovering from their slumber. Famished, the Canids fed them but each recovered in relation to the suffering they went through while under the Lich’s spell. Our heroes returned to tend their families, and were much welcomed at the temple. The Far Queen rules the palace. Biff as Paladin of Th’n Bolak was much called upon by the tiny clusters of people trying to eek out a survival in the aftermath of the Great Plague, Krusk was visited by the ancient Eye of Gruumsh too old to have followed the horde across the sea, Gareth’s traveling company found him, and together they set about brightening a bleak and dismal region with song and story, Liliput and Drak went off together and found great adventure as they said their vows, Sil continued to be haunted by the felling of the great oak Benthanasal every time he set to meditate, Makaria’s time in the region is a dark tale shrouded in mystery, Fie found the home of the Minotaur whose axe she bore, and discovered a secret she’s sworn never to reveal, Asteron’s tale is so epic that it would take all of Plague to tell, Valkhad underwent a cosmic change, and Zenma set about trying to reign in the other Zenma. There are three goals that must be accomplished by our heroes. First, they must find a place to secret the Horn of Wyrm. Second, they must find and trap the Exarch of Jubilex, Agares, the Horror they themselves released upon the land. Third, the Ghost Elven Chronicler left from the Ethereal before the All God’s War or the Cataclysm, said to have gone out from the Ghost Elves to discover the past, if our heroes wish to amend their transgression against Archmage Davros of Ghosthome they must find the fate of the Chronicler. In the three years which have passed, the Far Queen has come to know the sweet sound of Agares, who visits her. The cabal formed between the Cult of Dagon and the Quivering Mass of Jubilex has brought a Shoggoth to Three Bridges, which has cleansed the Palace of it’s besiegers. Wise to flee, the armies of the four corners of the Dominion have retreated to their perspective lands. Each ruled now by feudal lords and their vassals. The war has dragged on these three years. The Dominion has fallen to pieces. By Famine of the first year after the Great Plague the great nation that once was has disintegrated into petty fiefdoms held by men at arms hungry and desperate for their lord’s favor. Each of the passing days is hard fought and food grows increasingly scarce. While peasants toil to force the land to give, the unrelenting winter that first year cost millions their lives. Th’n Bolak faired no better, already decimated by plague, the scant population tries desperately to eek out a living, but most turn to raiding and some to cannibalism. Stryfe of the first year was marked by the greatest fighting, troops desperate beyond belief began to tear apart their enemies in battles of attrition, the worst fighting being between Grand Duke Ptolemy and the Far Queen, though young Duke Fenris was forced to the woods, engaged in sporadic fighting against all three opponents. In the North West, Baron Rath Croghan was able to piece the realm together under his banner, though the deal struck between those lords is said to have cost them their souls. Devils now march freely in the North West Dominion. Further West, in Th’n Bolak, remnant Orcs too old, too fractious, or too young to have joined the main host of those lead by Grimspear, have clustered together into small raiding bands. Finally Grief set in the first year, families mourned their dead, and those that had worse fates. As if the sadness had been hiding to attack all at once, the end of the First Year was so completely dismal that many did not survive the utter heartbreak. When the first anniversary of the Great Plague came, everyone took to calling that time of year “Plague”. Winter was a full year and the horror of that fact took it’s toll. The tiny communities were desperate for food. The Dominion was four separate lands now, and each of those were desperate. Except for the Far Queen, who seemed to have fed her strange and bizarre citizenry. Come Felling, the Winter Queen had returned from hiding after the attack of Hate. She held court in grand fashion, and the fey rejoiced, though not for long, as the court was attacked by a Goliath raiding band which had made it’s way far enough into the Feywild to acquire alliances with the Goblin King. The ensuing battle was fierce and over quick, as the fey disappeared back into the woods, and the Golliaths and their new Goblin allies feasted at the Queen’s table. Unfortunately the feast was poisoned, though the Queen would never admit whether the feast was poisoned before or after the attack. Many Noble Eladrin counted themselves lucky for the attack. By Siege of the Second year, there were battles in the air between dragons. The entire year, there was a siege of Th’n Bolak by red dragons attempting to establish lairs. But the dragons of the Metal Mountains defended their homes, against the reds. Patience in particular proved to be a terror in the sky. Many a nights were lit the whole night through by the dragonfire in the sky. Only once was the gold dragon seen, it’s mountain destroyed in a terrible explosion two years prior, the great gold dragon coiled into the sky the last night of Siege, and fought Hate himself, the night burned as bright as day during the battle, and when the gold dragon came streaking down from the sky a blazing golden comet striking the mountains with such force as to rupture the earth and caverns below, it’s said that the Collossal Red Hate was injured so tremendously by the fallen gold that he was forced to quit the sky, taking his flight of red dragons with him. The gold dragon must’ve struck so hard as to have fallen deep into the earth, as if the ground had swallowed him, for he wasn’t seen again. The second year of Famine was worst than the first, and people starved everywhere, even the rich could not find food. After sixty days of the most terrible famine the world had seen, some gnomes appeared out of the west carrying sacks of a winterbloom potatoe from the feywild, they were able to teach the humans how to plant the things and food began to grow in the snow. Of course the fields of winterbloom were fought over in Stryfe. By the second year Grief washed over the land a second time, new sorrows acknowledged, and gratitude for surviving a second year felt by all. The third year’s Plague season saw fresh snow now so deep it covered the towns and villages to their rooftops. The snow was so deep fighting became difficult, a fact for which many were grateful. The third Felling was marked by a celebration for the Felling of the Great Oak Benthanasil by all the people of the land save the fey. Felling saw the first truce between the warring lords, Duke Fenris and Rath Croghan agreed to a ceasefire, on the condition that each would send the other groups of players to act out the Felling Play, a theatrical depiction of the great heroes who ended the Great Plague, and destroyed the Lich Druid Fachaun! The truce was broken during the sextan Siege. The Far Queen attacked both Fenris and Rath Croghan with fleshwarped troops made to look like one another. The resulting confusion lead to renewed fighting and a laughing Far Queen. The third year’s sextan Famine was actually the opposite, the first major harvest of winterbloom potatoes came in and were shared throughout the lands. The first harvest’s mirth was short lived though, because the following sextan saw the expansion of the Far Queen. Illithid were seen crouched over soldiers on the parapets of the castles sacked by the Far Queen during sextan Stryfe. Her blatant abominations drove men mad as slimes dripped down the walls and consumed her enemies whole. The resulting third year’s Grief was once again marked by the tears of wives and mothers, even the Orphan press gangs that roamed the lands took the time to greave their lot. Geography The continent of Th'n Bolak is broken into three main areas: Th'n Bolak, The Dominion, and The Caverns